Amazing Aviators: A2-B1. F. Cornish H.

and began to work in the family’s paper-making business. 1772 Étienne, Joseph’s brother, returned from Paris where he had studied architecture. He managed the family business after the death of their older brother. 1777 Joseph began to talk about ideas for a flying machine with Étienne. He thought that a machine could fly with the help of hot air. 1782 While living in Avignon, Joseph began building the first hot-air balloon. When his brother joined him in the work, they built a larger balloon which flew two kilometres. 1783 In Annonay the brothers made the first public demonstration of their hot-air balloon. The flight was a success and the balloon flew two kilometres in ten minutes. Next, they made another hot-air balloon called the Aérostat Réveillon. Its first flight was successful and soon there was another demonstration at the Royal Palace of Versailles. King Louis XVI and Queen Marie-Antoinette watched as the balloon ascended. A month later, Étienne made the first successful human flight in a tethered balloon. 1789–1799 The French Revolution ended the Montgolfier brothers’ work on balloons for several years. Joseph and Étienne returned to the family paper-making business. But after the Revolution they continued their work on inventions. Soon, hot-air balloons were replaced by hydrogen balloons. But Joseph invented several important machines of other kinds. 1810 Joseph died aged 69, in Balaruc-les-Bains.

Louis Blériot

       1872–1936

      the first person to cross the sea in an aeroplane

      I was the first person to cross the sea from France to England in a heavier-than-air flying machine.

      I was born in the town of Cambrai, in France, on 1^st July 1872. I went to school in my home town, then in Amiens, and finally in Paris. As a boy, I was especially good at drawing. My ambition was to become an engineer.

      When I left the famous École Centrale in Paris, I had to join the French Army. All young men had to do some military service at that time, and I was a soldier for a year. After that, I took a job with an engineering company in Paris. While I was working there, I invented something new. It was a practical kind of headlamp for the first cars which were appearing in France at that time.